My Best Vacation Ever: France & New York City

Enjoy guest posts from IGE readers describing their best vacations ever while I’m away on mine! Check out my Italy travel page which I’ll be updating with links to videos, pictures & posts throughout my trip!

France

Name, Blog: Melissa C, Crunches for Cupcakes

Who, what, where, when and why: 25 old and brand new friends for my friends Matt and Natalie’s wedding, in Chadurie, France (south western France, near Cognac and Bordeaux). We also spent 1 week in Paris after the wedding and one of my friends rented an amazing house, used by the Templar Knights in the 11th century, so that everyone could stay together and celebrate the wedding.

Touring Paris

My favorite part of the vacation was: My favorite part of the entire vacation was the wedding itself.  It was filled with French traditions that I had never experienced before.  We paraded to the town hall so that Matt and Natalie could be legally married and then celebrated a spiritual ceremony at Natalie’s grandfather’s farm.  The reception lasted well past 3 am.  When it finally ended, all of the guests formed a caravan to search for the bride and groom.  After we finally found them, we all sat down together to share bowls of french onion soup and bottles of wine…at 5 am!

 Morning in Chadurie, view from my bedroom window.  Fields of sunflowers!

My best travel tip for this location: Remember to pack a converter for your appliances.  Also remember the voltage difference and double check if you need to change the setting on your hair dryer or straightening iron.

The thing you MUST do at this location: Travel by car, without a map.  Follow signs to interesting cities, chateaus, vineyards.  Even if you don’t speak French!  The best adventures are unplanned.

With my boyfriend Jared in the medieval city of St. Emilion

The thing I want to do next time I return: I would love to rent bikes so I can cycle through the countryside, especially further north in the Loire Valley.  I’m also planning to eat more cheese and croissants and drink more wine!  After all, it’s France!

New York City

Name, Blog: Emily at Eating Chalk.

I grew up in the Virgin Islands, went to college in Miami, and worked as a teacher in NYC so most of my life has been spent in “destinations.” My husband and I moved to Buffalo, NY last year so he could attend medical school here, and life has been feeling decidedly less exciting. That is why my best vacation was a one day trip back to NYC.

Who, what, where, when and why: My husband and I took a 1-day trip to New York City – mostly Park Slope, Cobble Hill, and SoHo – on March 31^st, 2010. The why was simple; we were homesick!

My favorite part of the vacation was: Getting to spend time at some of my old stomping grounds. We planned the day so it was a pretty typical agenda; getting pizza at the spot right next to our old apartment, stopping at our favorite cupcake spot, picking up some essentials at Whole Foods and Trader Joes, and getting some proper Thai food.

My favorite part was probably getting Pino’s, you just can’t beat Brooklyn pizza!

My best travel tip for this location: Is to wear comfy walking shoes, the only way to experience the city is by foot! A close second is to wear something cute, you don’t want to feel dumpy or out of place and NY ladies always look put together. Finally, bring an umbrella; no matter what turns the weather takes you still want to walk.

The thing you MUST do at this location: Go to Sugar, Sweet, Sunshine. They make the best cupcakes in the city, hands down! And the best cupcakes in the city only cost $1.50, no snooty Magnolia prices. The pistachio cupcake will change your life.

The thing I want to do next time I return: Go back to Serendipity3 for a frozen hot chocolate.

Or anything really, you can’t go wrong in NYC!